And we’re off. At least I assume we are – I’m away from e-mail today and this was drafted up last night with an 11 am timestamp. I wouldn’t put it past Stephen Harper to cancel the election so as to ensure Canada’s economic recovery stays on track.<\/p>\n
While I’ll no doubt be busy this campaign, there’s always time for election blogging. I’ll be doing a week-in-review every Sunday. I’ll try to find something interesting from Alberta to write about every Friday. Like last election, I’ll be asking you to rate commercials with “Ad Watch<\/a>“. I’ll be running seat projections<\/a>. There will be debate live blogs full of live snark. I’ll try to keep things light and not get too uber-partisan because, as important as elections are, blogging about them should be fun<\/em>. Let’s leave the nastiness for the Tory war room.<\/p>\n If you’re just tuning in now, here’s what you need to catch up on:<\/p>\n –Election Primer<\/a> (Read other election primers here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>) So, what should we expect between now and May 2nd?<\/p>\n I know the common consensus is this election won’t change anything. After all, Harper is flying high in the polls<\/a> and none of the dozen scandals plaguing his government have Canadians protesting in the streets.<\/p>\n But despite this, my gut feeling is Michael Ignatieff is going to surprise people this campaign. And I say this as someone who has never been overly optimistic about Liberal chances in recent elections, and was never a big fan of Mr. Ignatieff’s during either of his leadership runs.<\/p>\n I’m not saying he’ll win, but he does have some things going for him. Those gloomy poll numbers have been built on two years of attack ads – during a campaign, voters will get to see Ignatieff’s side of the story. And he’s got the makings of a good story. A “family friendly” Liberal platform is going to sound a lot more appealing than corporate tax cuts or new fighter jets. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the Tories are besieged by scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n
–Election Pool<\/a> (And check out the James Bow election pool<\/a> too)
–Election Calendar<\/a>
-Rate pre-election ads here<\/a> and here<\/a>
-A look at the Tory platform<\/a><\/p>\n